The Legend of Dragoon: Fragments of the Dragon Campaign
by Chez-Dragoon
Summary: Sometimes I listen to a song and I just "see" LoD. I finally sat down and wrote out fragments (keyword: fragments) of what I think happened in the Dragon Campaign. It might not make much sense to y'all, but to me it does - as I have a sense of what I think goes on during this time period. My real goal was just to show what the product of me listening to music and writing was! Enjoy
1. Denningrad Trap

Denningrad Trap

(Written Listening to Jenova Absolute)

_Note: I don't know if the message shows up in other places, but "story" is called "LoD Fragments" because I only wanted to write fragments of what I think happens in the Dragon Campaign. While I'd like to think I have the basic timeline for what happened during the Campaign mapped out in my head, it is often times music that gives me the image of what is going on. So, I decided to write these fragments while listening to certain songs that always make me imagine certain parts of LoD. Point being: this isn't supposed to be complete in any way, so remember that (especially when and if you read about the Virage Embryo)!_

"Uh, guys…" Syuvuil started, "I think they're coming back…and I see something with them"

"Shit" Joan said, running to a window "no wonder this place was so easy to get into."

"Syuvuil, back on that control panel, shut all the doors!" Diaz shouted.

Through the windows of the palace, the shadows of several dozen Winglies could be seen whizzing up towards the vaulted ceiling.

"What are they doing!?" Jaz shouted

"The windows must be enchanted like the doors," Joan said, "it's literally easier to go in through the-" She was cut off by a quake that went through the entire palace, causing everyone to lose their balance.

Diaz jumped up onto the center table, "Several dozen Winglies and probably a Virage! Joan, Jaz, if some debris falls, can you take care of it? Syuvuil, this would be a great time to get your act together and TRANSFORM!"

Another quake.

A dot of light appeared on the ceiling, it grew brighter and bigger until that spot on the ceiling broke in, giving way to the beam of a Virage. Once through, it started cutting slowly around in a giant circle.

Diaz put both hands on the hilt of his sword for a moment. Then, in one great motion, he unsheathed it – unleashing the power of the Burning Gem and causing a beam of fire to emanate from the tip of his sword, which he pointed up at the ceiling. "Any ideas about the about-to-fall-ceiling?!" He shouted. "Suyvuil?!"

A few Winglies were able to make their way through the hole created by the breadth of the Virage's beam. They were met quickly by Diaz's beam and by ice spears cast by Joan.

The Virage's beam had gone almost half-way around the ceiling when it stopped. Another quake shook through the palace, this time causing two giant, pointed crystals to fall. One of them might have hit Joan, if Jaz had not cast out onto them. Bringing them under this control, he pointed them towards the ceiling and held them there, waiting for the attack.

"We're almost out of time!" Joan shouted, moving towards the spot where the Virage's beam had begun its path. Jaz, and crystals, followed slowly. "Diaz! Get over here! It's safer than the freaking middle of the room!"

Diaz tapped out of the power of the Burning Gem, and caused the beam to stop. He looked over at Syuvuil, who was holding his Dragoon Spirit, which seemed to be inert. The beam of the Virage started back up again, picking up where it left off.

"Syuvuil," Diaz said calmly, "remember how you owe me more than a few favors? I'd consider this to be-"

The ceiling began to cave in on its own. The Virage ended its beam, and struck the roof of the palace. The ceiling crumbled, falling nearly on top of Syuvuil. Before it hit the ground, Winglies started to rush in, swords in one hand and fireball in the other. All of this, Syuvuil saw in slow motion as his Dragoon Spirit opened up to him. He ran to Diaz, while a magic wind engulfed him. Jumping up onto the table, he grabbed hold of Diaz. Just in the time it took to get to and grab Diaz, his transformation was complete. Using his wings, Syuvuil made one jump from the table to the opposite end of the room with Joan and Jaz.

Syuvuil tapped into his magic, and created a gale storm, which blew the Winglies back out of the building, one was even impaled through an exposed crystal. The Virage remained, looking down into the room like a curious child, a light in its one eye reappeared. It was charging its beam.

Jaz fired the two crystals he had under his spell, and Diaz tapped back into the Burning Gem, this time creating a fire ball that he sent straight towards the Virage. All three projectiles hit the Virage, but didn't seem to do much damage.

"I think we got this," Joan said, preparing an arrow, "go take care of the Winglies."

"With pleasure!" Syuvuil said. His wings started to glow, and he took off. On his way out into the open, he flew past the Virage, scathing it with his spear. The trio below continued their onslaught, aiming for what seemed to be the only weak spot – the eye.

Syuvuil rose up above the building, and saw a Denningrad that was mostly destroyed. He did not, however, see the Winglies that were just about to kill him. When a fireball whizzed past him from below, he looked down – and saw that they were all rushing back up the sides of the palace, converging on him from every side. Syuvuil raised his hand, holding a green ball of energy, in the air. From that green ball, a green spear grew – the middle of the spear being located within the ball. Syuvuil threw the spear at a Wingly, and hit him! Another spear grew in its place just as quickly as its predecessor left. Syuvuil threw this one too, and another. Two Winglies went down this way.

Before he could make another throw, the Winglies were upon him. He repurposed the energy in his hand. He released it, and a small wind storm surrounded him, causing most Winglies to lose control of their flight when next to him. He killed 3 more who tried to approach him with his spear. The remaining Winglies retreated and regrouped. This time, rather than approaching him, they simply shot fireballs and beams of fire at him. Syuvuil easily dogged these by changing his altitude, in fact his armor could easily take the fireballs that they were throwing at him. But he didn't want them to know that. Syuvuil responded by playing the same spear trick that he did earlier. Their numbers were now visibly reduced.

Down below, Joan, Jaz, and Diaz were having some trouble with the Virage. They were lucky that it was too big to get into the room, but that didn't stop it from trying to destroy the building. It scratched, punched, and shot its beam both at the walls and at the heroes below. Jaz was exclusively occupied by catching the falling debris and shooting it back at the Virage. A useful, but not very accurate task. Diaz couldn't keep the power of the Burning Gem active all the time, but when he was able to respond to the Virage's beam with his own, he found that the Virage simply held his hand up to protect his beam from hitting his eye. And it didn't seem to do much damage to the skin on his hand. With all this going on, Joan tried to take advantage by running about and shooting arrows at the Virage's eye from another angle. But even if the Virage was blocking Diaz's beam, it still had a free hand, not to mention its beam. It put Joan back on the defensive by causing more crystals to fall or shooting at her with its beam.

"There has to be another way!" Joan shouted.

"Maybe!" Jaz replied "cast fire with me? Diaz, join in if can."

Facing each other, the two Juras clasped each other's hands. Between their four hands an intense fire started. Meanwhile, the Virage took the time to start charging his own beam.

"uhh…where are we aiming?" Diaz asked, tapping into the power of his sword.

"Anywhere!" The two said together.

With that, the Juras released their doubly-charged beam of fire. Their lack of aim caused the beam to hit the Virage in the shoulder. Not a second later, Diaz joined in with his own beam. The Virage made some sort of noise, and tried to cover the beam with its other hand like it had done to Diaz's. This stopped the beam from hitting its shoulder for a moment. But only a moment, as the strength of this combined beam was enough to burn a hole through its hand. The Virage fell back, and plummeted towards the bottom.

Syuvuil, and the remaining Winglies, heard a collective "YES!" being shout from down below. When the Winglies saw what had happened, a few of them went towards the Virage – but most of them decided to take up attacking Syuvuil's friends.

"FROM ABOVE!" Syuvuil shouted as he once again summoned spears, this time with both hands, to throw at the Winglies. Syuvuil hit 4 Winglies this way, causing them to crash into the meeting room lifeless. Joan reacted first, followed quickly by Jaz. The two sent giant spears of ice, not unlike Syuvuil had done with his magic, at the Winglies. Diaz was engaged in direct combat by a Wingly, whose sword came crashing down from several angles – always coming in from above, never making stabs or horizontal sweeps. Diaz raised his sword and held it like a baseball bat, and sidestepped the Wingly's next attack. The Wingly had put so much force behind his attack that his timing and balance was thrown off when Diaz didn't block it, which gave Diaz just enough time to swing his sword and decapitate the Wingly.

There weren't many Winglies in the room left. But Diaz did see that both Jaz and Joan were each in a sword fight with one. He ran at the Wingly attacking Jaz, but the Wingly saw him coming and in a swirling motion, sent a fireball hurling at Diaz with the other and attacked Jaz with his sword with the other. Diaz was almost hoping this would happen, quickly he raised his sword so that its point was in line with the fireball. The sword absorbed the attack and glowed red. Diaz then, even though he was far from the Wingly, swung his sword in a huge vertical motion. The point of the sword drew a red line in the air, and when Diaz finished his swing, that curved line hurled straight forward. Unfortunately, the Wingly was no longer standing in that spot – but it did afford a distraction, which Jaz used to place a fireball of his own on the Wingly's face.

Diaz turned to see Joan standing over the body of the Wingly she was fighting a second ago, looting its corpse. Right when he wondered where Syuvuil was, his question was answered when he saw Syuvuil hovering in the air, besides the building. He was creating what looked like a green-colored shield in front of him, against which the beam of the Virage was pushing. Syuvuil looked like this was giving him a hard time, but the beam eventually broke and Syuvuil responded with yet another magic spear. Diaz heard something that resembled a dying roar.

Then all seemed quiet.


	2. The Valley of Corrupted Gravity

The Valley of Corrputed Gravity

(Written Listening to Nailin' the Kelvin)

The city Aiglis appeared on the horizon, moving violently fast towards the city. Even on the horizon, a green light could be seen within the city.

"Shhhhit," Rex said "Diaz was right, we need to get out of here!"

Rex ran outside and got on his horse. He rode quickly through some of the town, giving the order for all solders to meet in the square, forget what they didn't already have on them, and to take as many civilians with them as they could. His order, though, was being carried out before it was given. Many soldiers were already deserting, along with the citizens.

Rex looked up, the sky was growing increasingly grey and an unnatural wind was picking up. To the West he saw Agilis, this time much closer, from somewhere in the city a green beam was being shot into the earth, tearing it into huge boulders. Those boulders then were lifted into the sky, and were whirling around the city.

"To the east!" Rex cried, and led a veritable stamped, himself at its head, out of the city.

At that moment, he saw something in the sky. He didn't know what, but there were several of them – each one leaving a different color of mist – red, gold, green - in its wake. He didn't let this stop him, though, and continued his hurried way out of the city.

Meanwhile, Belzac planted himself between the Rex's city and Agilis. Agilis was getting close to the city, the wind was starting to force rain-filled barrels to tip over. Belzac lowered his axe into the ground, and the ground shone gold for a split second. Amazingly, this had an effect – the green beam shooting down from Agilis was now having serious trouble in tearing up the rock below, though it continued to fire.

Syuvuil and Zieg wound their way through the boulders surrounding Agilis. On the perimeter of the city, there were large, green spheres which were shining brightly. Zieg threw a fireball at one of them, but they were protected by a shield.

"There has to be a blind spot!" Syuvuil shouted.

"Follow me!"

Zieg found his way beneath the city.

"No…."

Zieg shook his head "That has to be it."

Down below, Syuvuil could see the beam was regaining some success in tearing the earth up. The boulders that it created looked like they were resisting from being torn from the ground, first he figured that Belzac wouldn't be able to halt this destruction much longer.

Zieg and Syuvuil rushed towards the middle of the city's underside, right where the beam was coming out. Before they got there, several hundred Winglies appeared from what seemed like hidden crannies in the city's bottom.

"Well…" Syuvuil said as the Winglies all started up a fireball "any ideas?"

"Push them into that huge death-beam?" Zieg responded

"Stick close!" Syuvuil said, and started flying straight down.

The Winglies, and Zieg, followed. Syuvuil conjured a strong wind which surrounded both him and Zieg, causing most fireballs shot at them to be blown off course. The few that made it through were easily taken by their armor.

Syuvuil landed in a huge crevice created by the beam, filled with boulders which were floating for some reason - evidently as a result of being torn between two magic forces. Looking up, the Winglies were not far behind, they all seemed to be coming at him from one angle. Syuvuil smiled and created another wind, which blew almost all of the Winglies into the beam. Zieg had plenty of fireballs of his own ready for those that managed to maintain their flight pattern.

Syuvuil and Zieg flew back up to their original positions. Syuvuil took this time to try and guage how Belzac was doing. He saw that the beam was still having issues tearing into the earth, but that the boulders that it did create would start to fly into the air, but then were somehow pulled back down to the earth – by Belzac. They definitely didn't have much time left.

Zieg started an assault of fireballs, shooting relentlessly at what a green gem which seemed to be the source of the beam. Nothing changed.

Several panels began to slide round beneath the city, revealing yet more green spheres. Though tiny, they were many – and they all shot a beam at Zieg. Syuvuil moved towards Zieg and created a magic shield, protecting them both from the attack. Below, the ground was shimmering slightly with gold.

"This is a lost cause, Zieg!" Syuvuil shouted "I'm worried about Belzac!"

"So go check on him, I can take care of myself."

Syuvuil created a small wind that blew around Zieg, in case of more attacks, then left. Regaining his view of the battlefield, he saw that Agilis had moved almost on top of the city. Amazed though he was at how quickly Agilis was moving, he noticed that the rocks that were swirling around Agilis were somehow released from that magic, but were now floating in the air. Syuvuil then saw Belzac, who was right in the beam's path, his eyes gave off the same golden light that was coloring the earth around him. Syuvuil even spotted a few dozen Wingly bodies sprawled around him. He cursed under his breath, and flew straight for Belzac. On his way, he noticed a skirmish happening to the east. It looked like Rex had been ambushed, but somehow the fight was still going on.

Syuvuil landed next to Belzac, "we have to get out of here! We can't stop the beam!"

Belzac, in a determined motion, lifted his axe from the ground. In that same moment, the golden color faded from both his eyes and the earth, and the beam started to rip back into the ground with the force it had before.

Belzac fell back, "I thought something happened to you" he said, and added "…Zieg?"

"Still trying to destroy the power source, he wouldn't leave." Syuvuil offered his hand out to Belzac, "You still got enough magic in you to fly out of here?"

Belzac took Syuvuil's hand "Yeah. Go get Zieg, I saw some Winglies ambush Rex's forces a minute ago – I'll see what I can't do on that front."

They broke. Belzac flew towards the east, and only a few dozen Winglies fighting what looked like about a hundred humans. Or, at least, that's how many there were now. Belzac flew low to the ground, axe sheathed, and when he reached the battlefield, he made a large leap and caught two Winglies by their throats. He fell back to the ground, with enough force to slide several feet after landing. He forced the Winglies' bodies into the ground as he landed, by the time he was done sliding – the Winglies in his hands had been killed by a combination of asphyxiation and having been dragged across the earth.

Belzac reached behind his back and unsheathed his axe. In its reflection, he saw a Wingly coming from behind. With perfect timing, he turned around and swung his axe with such great force that he broke the Wingly's armor and chopped him in half. To the west, he saw that Agilis' beam had started to destroy the city, though there wasn't as much wind as before.

Beneath Agilis, Syuvuil found Zieg with a wounded arm, which was limp at his side. With the other he was still shooting fire.

"Ho-kay, buddy" Syuvuil said when he saw Zieg "we're going to have to leave. I'd rather you not die."

Syuvuil took Zieg's limp arm and put it around his back and both Dragoons' wings lit up as they flew out from beneath the city.

As they came out from under Agilis, they noticed more Winglies – who had evidently been deployed from Agilis – heading towards the spot where the skirmish was happening.

Syuvuil sighed, "Let's take them out, eh?"

Syuvuil made as if he was going to start throwing magic spears, but stopped when Zieg told him he had an idea. Syuvuil then saw that Zieg seemed to be charging an exploding fireball. So, Syuvuil prepared his magic spears, but didn't fire.

Belzac had finished almost all of the Winglies attacking Rex when he saw a small cloud of at least a hundred Winglies heading his way. He groaned, but was surprised when he saw an explosion of fire within the cloud. It seemed like half the cloud went down in flames from that surprise attack, and even more started falling after being impaled with green magic spears. The cloud then broke up, some heading back and some heading for Belzac.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Zieg asked as his wings started to turn into a red flame.

"I think so," Syuvuil returned with a smile. His own wings became a translucent green flame. Together, they whizzed towards their enemies. Syuvuil used his magic to create a burst of wind, forcing all the Winglies into a small area in front of them. They rushed past the confused Winglies, taking 2 out as they flew by. Zieg, with his magic, left another, smaller, explosion in their wake – taking care of the rest.

Belzac, saving what little magic he had left for the flight out of there, started to take on the Winglies in combat. Between his size and strength, which allowed him to cut through a Wingly in one swing, and his Dragoon armor, which protected him well against any magic that these particular Winglies could throw at him, he had almost taken out all the Winglies that had come after him. Save for two smarter ones, who had held back and were shooting fire at him from a safe distance. However, they were quickly killed with two green spears when Zieg and Syuvuil arrived.

Agilis was now hovering above what used to be the center of the city. Other, tinier, beams could be seen being fired from the bottom of the city as well.

"We don't have much time," Syuvuil said "Rex, go either north or south, into the mountains. Get out of this beam's path. It may be strong, but that thing can't go on forever."

Rex looked over what remained of his men, and gave Syuvuild a resigned look, saying "we won't make it, after that ambush I don't think there are enough horses to carry everyone. Just tell Diaz that I'm sorry..."

Belzac looked over the remains of the battlefield and saw two children on their knees, leaning over who he assumed were their parents, shaking them.

"You both are going to have to help me push this thing," Belzac said

Syuvuil and Zieg collectively responded, "What?"

By the time they had said it, though, they understood. Belzac once again struck his axe into the earth – this time to tear a large rock out of the earth, rather than to keep the rock in the earth.

The boulder that Blezac dislodged from the earth was shaped like a huge glacier. Even so he was able to force it to levitate, and slowly they gained altitude. Zieg and Syuvuil both flew to one side of it and tried pushing it to the south. Their wings glowed, and large green and red spheres appeared in the space between each of their two wings, giving them more force.

Even so, the rock was too big to push effectively. Syuvuil called out to Belzac to make it smaller. Belzac flew to the side and saw how huge the rock was. He once again struck the earth with his axe, and the excess earth fell several hundred feet back to the ground. Now that their vessel was shaped more like a flat piece of stone than a glacier, they instantly started moving faster, and when Belzac joined in the pushing, they were quickly out of immediate danger's way.

They pushed their way into the mountains. Belzac looked back and saw that Agilis had started retreating back to the west after having destroyed the city. Filled with relief, he almost transformed out of his Dragoon armor.

"Let's find a place to land," Belzac suggested "We seem to be safe for the moment."


	3. Shirley Hurts, Damia Heals

Shirley Hurts, Damia Heals

(Written Listening to 2nd Law Isolated System)

Dust, silence, and darkness were the only things left in the newly created valley. Though the silence was occasionally broken by the muffled sound of colliding rock, and through the darkness, streams of green and brown light could sometimes be seen – the dust seemed like it would never settle. It went from the deepest visible part of the valley, and had risen to as high as where the Agilis was nearly a day ago.

Several Minintos observed the valley, hidden in the mountains to the south. They peered through crudely made lenses that distorted their view. But, at least those lenses were lodged flesh with the mountain, allowing them to look out into the valley while staying, themselves, hidden within the interior of their cave structure.

Behind the observers, Minintos rushed to get into the lower levels of their terrain. The lowest level contained a huge, square room with ceilings high enough to comfortably accommodate even Gigantos. Whatever this room's purpose was before the war, it was now being used as a huge infirmary for the survivors of [Rex's city].

Despite receiving help from the Mimintos that knew anything about first aid, Shirley felt that she was the only one doing any work. She ran between victims, and had long ago given up on trying to determine the exact wound with each solder. She now broke up victims into two groups: "about to die," and "might live." For those in that unfortunate first group, she asked for some small amount of pain reliving medicine to be given to them, as long as she could afford it the spare use of it. She dressed the more serious wounds of those who might live, but as long as treatment wasn't too hard, and there seemed to be a free pair of hands, Shirley delegated, with clear instructions, her duty.

She thought that it wouldn't end. Belzac had told her that there was, maybe a hundred survivors, _maybe_. She might have been stretched thin, but she wasn't going to complain about extra survivors.

Several Mimintos brought in a man, screaming, on a stretcher. They set him down in a corner, and Shirley ran towards him. She passed a burn victim on her way. Seeing his situation, she snapped in the air, catching a Miminto's attention, and pointed down at him – all without missing a step.

Shirley got to the screaming man and saw that he was clearly in the first group. He had a deep gash that started in his left eye, and curved down his face until it reached his neck – where the gash was most profound. His screams started to die down, it started to sound like he was gargling blood. Shirley put both her hands in the air above the man's chest. For almost everyone else, she could at least ease the pain. Guilt started welting up in her as she realized that there was nothing that she could do.

Almost nothing. Shirley got out a knife and looked at the man worriedly. His right eye and blood bathed face returned, to the best of their ability, a resigned look. Shirley looked around the room and saw one Miminto staring at her, mouth open. Shirley still had the same twisted expression on her face: worry and uncertainty ruled her, but this man wasn't going to make it. He deserved better, but he wasn't going to get it. She let out a sigh and put the knife over his heart. She quickly brought the knife above her head and back down, sending it into his chest.

She didn't take the knife out immediately, though her patient was killed on impact. Rather, she kept it lodged in his chest, and lowered her head. She slowly raised and lowered her other hand, patting the other side of his chest with the palm of her hand. She wanted to scream, she didn't understand why she wasn't screaming. Her mouth was open, and it felt like she was pushing out air, but she heard nothing. She knew that she ended his suffering, that he would have never made it alive, and that he wanted her to do it – but all she could think about was the reason why she was there: to save lives.

After several moments, she lifted her head. On the other end of the room, she saw Damia and Zieg coming down the stairwell. Or, rather, they were coming down the stairwell and had been stopped in their tracks. Damia was observing the Miminto nurses rushing from one side of the room to another, she took in the stench of a bloody, sweaty death. Eventually, Damia saw Shirley, and they locked eyes.

"You know," Damia said, looking up at Zieg "there's a more subtle side to the power of a Dragoon as well. You can fire big fireballs, sure, but can you twist that and make your powerful useful for these people?"

Zieg looked back at Damia with a confused face, saying "fire only destroys."

Damia smiled, "It also keeps people warm."

Damia got out her Dragoon spirit, and looked back at Shirley, who was still staring at Damia. Damia saw that she had clearly been crying. Damia ran over towards Shirley, and looked down at the man she was leaning over, knife still in his chest.

Holding out her Dragoon spirit, Damia said "Joan would be better at this, but I can help, too. Tell me who to heal and I'll do my best."

Shirley looked at Damia for a moment, and then, expelling all her breath at once, gave a nervous laugh. "You'll probably have more luck with the burn victims, they're in a block over there" Shirley pointed to the other end of the room, then added "…are you planning on drenching them in water or something? You know that-"

Damia cut off Joan, "Just watch!"

"Well, don't get them too…" Joan trailed off as Damia had run off and was clearly not listening to her.

Damia hopped and crept her way over the mass of soon-to-be-corpses until she was in the middle of what seemed to be a section designated for those who had fallen victim to a Wingly's fireball. She looked into the eyes of worried men and women, drew in the smell of burnt flesh. Dragoon spirit in her hand, she held it above her head. "Certainly, I know that the sea can be just as healing as it can be destructive; that a lagoon gives as much peace as a storm does terror. Blue-Sea Dragon, look around you. If what I say is true, then surely you can find the power to heal these people, who have fallen victim to the same force that has destroyed so many of your kind!"

The Dragoon spirit shone a bright blue, though Damia didn't transform. A blue mist started to spread from her spirit, spreading to all of those who had been burned. Shirley watched, as people who had minor burns started getting up. The longer the light went on, the further the mist spread, the greater the number of those standing up. Even those she thought would die started moving on the ground.

Of all the things that she had seen the Dragoons do, this was the most amazing. The ability to heal as well as destroy! Charged with new hope, she looked down at the solder, still with the knife in his chest. She gently closed his eyes with her hand, and took her knife back. Not sure of what to say, she simply honored him with a moment of silence, hand resting on his chest.

Not wasting another moment, Shirley sprung back into action – Damia might have healed her burn victims, but there was still no want of work. She ran over to her corner, grabbing more herbs from her bag, and went back to taking care of wounded victims with even more fever than before.


	4. Damia Saved

Damia Saved

(Written Listening to Follow Me)

Damia pounded against the glass. She wanted to scream. She wanted to stamp and shout and cry all at once. But she couldn't. She was stuck in a glass cylinder filled with water. All she could do was pound against the glass, and listen to the muffled thud it made – that's all she got.

All kinds of thoughts rippled through her mind. Were they going to torture her until she told them about the resistance? Probably. Would they execute her, or send her back to the labs? What were they doing with her dragoon spirit? She was afraid of what was happening on the other side of the doors.

Then the other dragoon's came into her mind. Where were they? A week ago she was sure that if something like this happened that they'd be right behind her. Did Belzac even notice she was gone? Were Zieg and Rose too busy with each other to be bothered with the war? Was Syuvuil still acting like he was the only one who'd lost his family? She couldn't believe any of them.

Damia gave the glass another pound. As if surprised that it the glass didn't break in, she closed her eyes and fell back. Her heart fell to her stomach, a recent occurrence lately, when she wondered how long she had been in that tube. She guessed two days – she hadn't seen anyone. It was just her and a few dim lights that illuminated her tube and a few machines in the room.

Then, right when she had given up all hope, she heard the soft thud of someone pounding on the glass - from the other side! She opened her eyes, and Rose was in front of her!

Rose! Damia put both hands up against the glass. It was Rose! Damia let out a cry of relief and joy. She thought that she'd never see any of her friends again.

Rose stood by Damia's container, placing her hands in a matching position with Damias. Damia then saw Zieg enter the room from the doors behind Rose. Lights went up in the entire room. Damia didn't look at the machines which had been dimly illuminated behind her. Zieg looked at a control panel and interacted with it by sticking his sword straight down the middle. This, amazingly, had the desired effect of causing the glass on Damia's prison to low itself into the floor.

Water rushed into the room, and Damia rushed into Roses arms.

"Rose! Zieg! I thought that I'd never see you two again!"

"Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, they didn't do anything"

Zieg walked towards the pair, still hugging. "I hate to break this up" he said "but the others are waiting on us."

_Others! They all came_, thought Damia.

Zieg held his hand out to Damia. She looked down and saw that it was her dragoon spirit!

"Wha…?" Damia stared at it for a moment, "but, how?"

"It's been a long day" Zieg said, smiling.

Damia placed her hands over Zieg's, and pulled him in for a quick hug before taking the spirit.

_Friends….my friends_. Damia was bursting with content. She wouldn't have complained if she died right there on the spot.

"Well then" Rose said "shall we, Zieg?"

"Most certainly" he responded.

Zieg and Rose started transforming, Damia soon followed.

"It's basically a straight shot down this hallway," Zieg said, "but be careful, there are lots of other hallways that intersect. Winglies might be waiting to ambush us there."

With that, the three started flying down the hallway. Zieg was right about the hallways, but there weren't any winglies waiting for them. They soon reached the teleportation portal that led to the exterior of the city. But it wasn't glowing.

"Dammit! It's not active" Zieg said.

"Wasn't there another one around here somewhere?" Rose asked.

Suddenly, the hallway shook violently.

"Virage?" Rose said.

"Maybe," Zieg responded, "get ready."

The hallway shook again, there was something coming at them through the stone ceiling. Another shake, and the ceiling back down the hallway started to cave in. Before anyone could react, they heard Belzac call out.

"Figured they might shut down the teleport system," Belzac said "_that _was the hole in our plan!"

Damia ran up and gave Belzac a hug.

"Happy?" Belzac said.

"Sorry," Damia let out a laugh.

Belzac turned to Zieg and Rose "it's actually going way smoother than expected. Go check Joan out."

The four of them left through Belzac's tunnel. When they came out, Damia understood why there were no Winglies attacking them in the building. They seemed to all be out here! Hundreds upon hundreds. After the amassing clouds of winglies flying around, the next thing Damia saw was Joan. She was truly was an awesome sight to see. Wielding both dragoon and Jura magic. The dragons Michael and Vincent were there too. Damia noticed them when she saw Vincent tackle a Virage. Much like Michael was fond of doing, he burrowed his way straight through the body of the Virage without even slowing down his flight. Once he had his head through, he twisted back around and breathed fire on the Virage, finishing it off. She even caught a glimpse of Syuvuil and Kanzas sweeping their way amongst the chaos of the Winglies.

This was the biggest battle that Damia had seen, but without saying anything to those around her, she flew off. Making grand sweeps with her hammer in one hand, and constantly shooting a stream of ice spears with her other, Damia flew up towards Joan.

"Game plan?" She asked confidently

Joan looked over at Damia "save you, and kill as many Winglies as possible in doing it."

As she said that, Joan notched an arrow. As she pulled it back, she filled it with light energy. When she released the arrow, it magically broke up into several other dozen arrows, all of which made a tiny explosion upon hitting something.

"That's new…" Damia said.

Joan's bow was now a set of dual swords, and she rushed into the chaos. As Joan left, Zieg and Belzac came to meet Damia.

"I don't understand this strategy," Damia said "normally they'd all be attacking us right now, but they're just flying around in huge circles. It looks like they're just in a giant school of fish."

"Normally," Belzac said, "they attack in a cloud like that if they're descending on a Human town, or if they want to create more chaos. But, this time," he held up a small white crystal, "Joan enchanted these, they take our image and project it somewhere constantly."

"And that works?" Damia asked, surprised.

"Evidently, I'm actually surprised that they haven't noticed yo-"

Belzac didn't have time to finish before a stream of Winglies started to make for Damia, throwing fire in front of them.

"See, this is how it normally goes," Damia said as a blue circle appeared in front of her. From that circle, several streams of ice spears were shot, taking out many of the Winglies that were coming her way. The ones in the back of the stream changed their flight pattern, either going up or down, left or right, so that they were no longer in the path of ice spears.

"Come on, boys" Damia said, her wings and armor started to glow blue.

Zieg and Belzac decided to let Damia take care of these Winglies and made their way into the cloud. Damia, now much faster than the Winglies, went at them. Swinging her hammer with enough speed to knock them out in one punch, and using her other hand to either throw some ice, or to grab a Wingly's arm and quickly twist it, or turn her own body, until the arm broke or came off.

Damia wondered again how the crystals were affording them such protection and chaos. Why hadn't they noticed by now? Are Winglies really that mindless in battle that they'll just fly wherever their enemy is, even if that enemy constantly disappears and then reappears on another side of the battlefield? But, she couldn't argue with results, there were constantly Winglies being killed. She looked down and saw bodies fall by the cluster down to the earth.

More Winglies started coming at her. More this time. Though she was still confidant in her ability, she somewhat lost her want to fight. Luckily for her, Vincent had decided to sneak up behind them and snake his way through the stream of Winglies. Going above one, under the next and to the side of another. He let his razor-sharp fins take care of the killing. Damia watched as several dozen more corpses fell to the ground.

The cloud of Winglies was now visibly reduced. Joan reappeared by Damia's side and told her that it was time to leave. Damia was able to hop on Michael with Rose, and the entire party left the cloud of Winglies to their chaotic state.


	5. Revive the Virage Embryo

Revive the Virage Embryo

(Written Listening to Adagio for Tron Remix by Teddybears)

Kanzas hovered above the embryo, while the remaining six stood, opposite elements facing each other, in a large circle around it, and transformed.

Kanzas managed to ask everyone if they were ready, despite his dry mouth. When they answered in the affirmative, he struck the embryo with lightning. The Dragoons below started sending little balls of energy, colored by their element, towards the embryo.

This continued for several minutes, but it was evident that something was happening. Kanzas starting striking it with lightning more often, and the other six sent energy in greater bursts. The embryo seemed to be absorbing the energy into its core. Though, much like a plant that sits in dry soil quickly drinks the water it is given, so too did the embryo waste no time in absorbing the energy it was given.

"Are we getting anywhere?" Kanzas asked from above.

"I think so" Shirley replied, "I see a change in color!"

The embryo seemed to almost be saturated with the Dragoons' combined energies. Each side of the embryo became saturated with the energy of the Dragoon that was facing that side. Everyone saw this, but before anyone could say anything, the colors within the embryo reversed themselves. Shirley was now no longer looking at a part of the embryo filled with light magic, but with dark magic. The same went for Zieg, Damia, Syuvuil, Rose, and Belzac.

Those color spots then gave way to beams of energy. It took the energy that any one Dragoon gave it, and shot it back at the Dragoon of the opposite element. Everyone reacted by conjuring a shield. The embryo seemed to ignore Kanzas, and so he shot more lightening at it.

It wasn't long before Blezac's and Syuvuil's shields gave in. In an explosion of color, they were both tossed back to the wall. Zieg quickly followed, leaving Rose, Shirley and Damia the only ones to withstand the beams that were being shot at them.

Huge roots started to sprout out of the top of the embryo. Like some unnatural mix between tentacles and roots, they shot straight for the ceiling. Knocking Kanzas out of the way and digging their way into the structure, the roots started pulling up the sphere of the embryo, which had now spawned Virage eyes on its every side. Shirley had started shooting arrows, while Damia and Rose had taken to attacking it physically. This didn't stop the embryo from reaching the ceiling, in no time it was well planted.

A hole opened up on the bottom of the embryo, and a Virage started to emerge. The sphere of the embryo was large, but nonetheless it didn't look big enough to contain a full grown Virage.

Zieg, Belzac, and Syuvuil recovered from the explosion, and started attacking. Belzac attacked the embryo with enough force to cause it to move a slightly in place, though the gash he left didn't quite represent the force with which he had attacked. Syuvuil conjured up a torrent of green spears, aiming each one at a different eye. The embryo responded by closing its eyes, something that, it seemed, only the embryo could do. The embryo finished giving birth to the Virage, and it seemed to be not fully grown. The Virage crashed to the ground and started stumbling around - the embryo then started firing beams with is eyes at every Dragoon.

Shirley, strong enough to create a shield with one hand, and send an attack with the other, blocked the beam and sent a tiny ball of light straight at the embryo's eye. On impact, it exploded in a flash of light and color. Shirley wasn't sure if she stunned that eye or if she had killed it, but with both hands free she started attack every eye she could. She took out three more before the embryo closed its eyes.

Rose, after she stopped having to worry about the embryo's beam – saw that the Virage was gaining strength. She tapped deep into her Dragoon spirit and caused a portal, black as midnight, to open up behind the Virage. Some creature put one of its crab-like legs through the portal, using it to impale the Virage with. It then retreated back to its own dimension, taking the Virage with it, and the portal closed.

The embryo was gaining strength, in the time it took Rose to eliminate the first Virage – the embryo spawned two more, these ones looking almost fully grown. Belzac and Zieg took on one Virage, while Syuvuil and Damia kept the other busy. Shirley seemed pre-occupied with making sure that the eyes couldn't function, and Kanzas was trying to dislodge the embryo from its spot on the ceiling. Rose didn't know where to put her efforts, though her dilemma was quickly solved when a fully grown Virage landed in front of her.

"Okay, so this was a bad idea!" Shouted Syuvuil

"No shit!" Kanzas yelled.

Rose ran at the Virage that had just spawned, striking at its feet, "Kanzas! Come be productive!"

Kanzas then shot a stream of lightening at the Virage, shocking it a bit. Rose used this time to fly up and stab it in the eye. The Virage let out something that resembled a muted, almost mechanic, moan. It tried firing its beam, but Rose had dislodged the sphere that was its eye. With the point of the sphere that fired magic now facing vertically rather than horizontally, the Virage's beam shot straight down the middle of its own body rather than straight out in front of it.

With this, all the currently spawned Virages were taken care of.

There was a moment of calm, Shirley had taken out the eyes and there wasn't another Virage being spawned.

"Can we take back our energy?" Damia suggested.

"I don't know," Zieg said, "but if it just gave us a fully grown Virage, then I'm wondering what's next…"

Kanzas shot a stream of lightening at it "we can try to overload it at least!"

"Umm…I'm not so sure" Syuvuil responded.

But soon, the other Dragoons were doing the same. Syuvuil joined in. Though after only a few moments, a huge eye appeared in the hole where the Virages had previously been spawned.

"Is that another Virage, or…?" Rose said.

The eye flashed several colors: red, green, gold. It seemed to channel the energy that it was being given. Then, a huge beam was shot directly at the floor below it. Once again, all Dragoons threw up a shield. Suddenly the beam stopped. Only being able to fire downwards, it didn't hit anyone. But energy was still clearly being put into the eye.

"OPPOSITES!" Shirley shouted "Do you remember what Joan said about elements? We have to tr-"

Before she could go on, the beam continued again. For a third time now, the Dragoons put up their shields. However, this time the beam caused an explosion upon impact with the floor, causing all the Dragoons to be tossed to the extremities of the room.

Dust filled the air, and the embryo lay silent, waiting; slowly healing the eyes that Shirley had taken out.

A sudden movement in the debris revealed that the Dragoons were standing in their original positions on the ground. Each one holding both of their hands up in the air.

"Try to take all of your element out of the space above you!" Shirley cried.

Zieg was the first to succeed. He drew all of the heat from the space between his hands, and moved it below him. This created a dark-blue sphere above him and a circle of red energy around him. The others saw this, and began to make progress themselves. Before the embryo could react there was a sphere of the opposite element above each Dragoon's head.

The embryo shot beams from its healed eyes, but the beams were torn apart. Into several directions, they were ripped and then sucked into the spheres above the Dragoon's heads.

The body of the embryo began to give in to this effect. It was as if the embryo was being torn from existence. The energy that the Dragoons had given it was being taken from it, and its flesh was going with it. Huge streams of red went into the blue sphere above Zieg, green into Syuvuil's golden sphere. The Dragoons had literally created a vaccum in which existence was not possible.

The embryo wasn't going down without a fight, it fired beams from all its eyes, and tried to spawn another Virage, but all of this was to no avail. These beams fell to the same fate as their predecessor, being ripped and sucked into a series of voids. The Virage was being destroyed by the Dragoons just as quickly as the embryo was making it. Everything on the interior of the Dragoon's circle was being destroyed, even the floor and ceiling had started to crumble and disappear, in a large stream, into Belzac's void.

Finally, the embryo fell slack and without any resistance, the rest of its body was quickly torn apart.

"Fill it back up with your element!" Shirley shouted.

Shirley, Damia, Rose and Zieg all immeidatley filled their voids up with the energy from their element. But Syuvuil and Belzac were having some issues. Belzac's void was feeding off the floor and ceiling, it seemed too voracious to stop. Syuvuil's void seemed to have some relationship with Belzac's, and so he was having trouble ending his as well.

"Get it together, boys!" Shirley said. "Syuvuil, if you can end yours then maybe Belzac ca-"

Syuvuil ignored Zieg and shouted over to Belzac "Aim…for me! Fire at…each other!"

Belzac obeyed, and shouted "ready!"

"FIRE!" Syuvuil shouted.

Both Dragoons were able to shoot their respective voids at each other. When the two spheres collided, a huge gust of wind blew everyone off their feet. What they saw when they got back up was equally amazing – a perfect sphere made out of stone!

"Well then" Kanzas, who was sitting on top of a Virage, said, "I suppose that could have been much worse." Jumping off the Virage he was sitting on, he added, "I told you all that we should not have tried reviving that thing."


	6. Joan Creates

Joan Creates

(Didn't Listen to Anything!)

In the valley beneath Honnin: the city in which Damia was held prisoner twice, the city into which so many Jura – and countless others of a myriad of other species – had vanished, the most horrible, feared, and – if the rumors were true – disgusting city that the Winglies had created, Joan appeared, resting on one knee, in a flash of light.

The floor of the valley was saturated in blood. Joan didn't seem at all surprised by what she saw, and as if curious, she stuck her hand into the soil. Hearing the sound of metal scathing against metal, she looked up. A few hundred feet to her right, a small stream of blood trickled down from the city. The blood that was dropped rested on top of the earth, which had already received more liquid than it could handle.

Joan took a deep breath, and removed her hand from the soil. Her eyes turned black, and a dark ball of energy appeared in the hand which was, a moment ago, buried in the earth. Sticking it back into the soil, she said:

"Those of you who wish to rest in peace, do so: I do not call on the unwilling. But, those who are tormented by anger, listen! I can give you a body with which to wreak havoc upon the Winglies of this city. A body which will not give in to the magic of the Winglies, which shall marry the strength of a Giganto with the swiftness of a wolf." The soil started to move, and the earth started to move on its own, giving shape to large humanoid creatures which stood eight feet tall, and had claws already dripping with blood. "Behold your new form! Come, and it shall be made! Let the fact that you are made from blood show your thirst for bloodshed! All that is missing is the soul. But, know that – with this second life, comes a second death. By this time tomorrow, your body shall go back to the earth, and your souls back to Devildom. Make your vengeance swift, should you choose to take it!"

Joan had grabbed the attention of several souls. Hundreds of creatures grew out of the earth, and did not waste a second in rushing to Honnin. With their unnatural combination of strength and speed, they were on the city within minutes. After reaching the top of the valley, they were so close to Honnin that they were actually able to jump onto the ledge of the city, or some part of its understructure.

Joan did not waste her precious time in seeing what would happen, though she was amused with her work. As the light surrounded her again, the last thing she saw was one of the creatures raising its claw, about to beat – or rip off – some sort of vent on the side of the city.


	7. Death of Diaz, Death of Damia

Death of Diaz, Death of Damia

(Written Listening to Prelude [Muse – _The 2__nd__ Law_])

Death of Diaz:

"There is one other power that the Burning Gem has…" Diaz said.

Syuvuil looked back at Diaz, knowing it was their best bet. "Thank…you…" he said, quickly clasping arms with Diaz.

One of the Virage's beams swooped by Diaz's right. Rose conjured a shield, blocking it.

"No time for that," Diaz said, "get out of here!"

Zieg and Rose started to fly off. Syuvuil hesitated, he watched as Diaz turned to face, alone, a Super Virage and four Virages. Diaz ran at the Super Virage, flanked on both sides by two Virages, and using the Burning Gem, shot a beam of fire at one of the Virages on his left. Surprisingly, it hit his eye, causing it to take a step back.

As the other Virages prepared various attacks, and the Super Virage lowerd its arm to the floor, sending a stream of tentacles down into the earth, Diaz raised his sword above his head. The gem in the hilt glowed brighter than it ever had before. Syuvuil thought he saw Diaz swing his sword, but he was forced to turn as Zieg and Rose pulled him away. Behind him, he heard a loud boom, followed quickly by the heat of an explosion.

"Nooo!" Syuvuil cried out, still being dragged away from the scene, forced to have his back turned on Diaz in his last act as Emperor of Gloranio.

Death of Damia:

["Rose…" Damia said, reaching out her hand to the woman sitting beside her.

"I'm here" Rose said softly.

"Please don't leave, Rose. I don't want to be alone."

"I'm here" Rose repeated.

Damia turned her yellow head towards the window in her room, which overlooked all of Vellweb.

"It was worth it….I think" she said "All the pain. Rose…" Damia let out a cough, "Rose, never give up hope."

Rose squeezed Damia's hand. ]

In the demon's hand was some ball of energy colored red and black. At a speed that Rose could have never hoped to react to, he stretched out his hand towards her and sent a black and red beam straight for Rose's chest.

Damia, though, did have the agility to react. Paying the ultimate price, she jumped in front of the beam, thrusting her chest outwards. Not even her Dragoon armor could keep her safe from such an attack. She fell back, being pushed towards Rose by the beam. The demon seemed content to simply watch as Rose ran to Damia, sliding on her knees as she got closer.

"DamiaDamiaDamiaDamia," Rose said "what were you thinking!?"

Damia smiled "I think it was worth it…" she said, raising her hand up to hold Rose's, "just…no matter what, don't give up hope…" Damia started to trail off.

Rose looked up at the demon, who was smiling at her wickedly, "Just breath, Damia, focus on breathing. Okay? You'll make it," she chocked "I promise." With that, Rose's wings turned a dark color, and the pupils of her eyes seemed to eclipse the irises. Unsheathing her rapier, she flew full-speed at the demon, with the full intention of making the demon _wish_ it were in hell, then find Shirley.

As if having a delayed reaction to Rose's departure, Damia frowned, hand outstretched and palm open. "Rose…" she muttered "where are you…? Don't leave me, Rose"


	8. The Fall of Kadessa

The Fall of Kadessa

(Written Listening to Tron End Credits)

Rose flew full force out of Kadessa, the city was somehow falling apart all around her. She got out of the main structure, and saw that the outer ring of the city was collapsing as well. No longer in danger of going down with the city, she slowed down. When she turned around, she saw a Kadessa that was slowly falling to the ground. She saw the occasional explosion destroy some part of the exterior. She saw huge billows of smoke coming out of windows and openings. She even saw a small stream of Winglies fleeing the city, and fly down into the forest below. But, most of all, she saw a city which was now the eternal prison of Zieg. Michael came up from behind her, breathing heavily. He hovered next to her, and watched with her, as everything that she ever wanted, and everything that she hated, went down in one flaming pile.

She cried his name, "ZIEGGGGG!" over and over, but the city did not respond. Instead , it made its slow descent over the forest, where the lakes seemed to watch as Kadessa made its way north; where the grave-marking helmets of a few solders were angled up at the sky; where the Winglies that inhabited that forest, and those that had taken refuge there, felt their hearts drop deeper and deeper with each moment that Kadessa fell to the humble earth.

Bellow, Rex raised his sword into the air and cheered as loudly as his lungs allowed, as all soldiers who witnessed that moment did. It had certainly been a long road, and it was far from finished. Even when Rex saw that only Rose had come out of the city, he thought to himself that the worst was over with. The tyranny of the Winglies was over, and the era of Humans had begun.


End file.
